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Primark
Primark is an Irish clothing retailer operating in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland (branded as Penneys in Ireland), Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and soon the United States .[2][3] Founded and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company is registered in England and Wales.[4][5] Primark is a subsidiary of international food, ingredients and retail group Associated British Foods. Primark was first opened by Arthur Ryan in June 1969 in Mary Street, Dublin under the name Penneys.[6] It became apparent that more stores were required and another four were added to the chain. Further expansion and success in Ireland dictated the move to the United Kingdom, when in 1971 it opened a large store in Belfast City Centre before opening four out of town stores in England in 1973.[7] In October 2011 Primark opened its first concession model. Primark is now stocked in Selfridges department stores inTrafford Centre, Manchester, The Bull Ring, Birmingham and Oxford Street, London. [8] In April 2014 Primark announced its plans to begin opening stores in the US. The first store is set to be a 70,000 sq-ft location in Boston. The retailer plans to open further shops in the US by 2016.[9] Contents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primark# hide *1 Market position *2 Primark's products **2.1 Working practices **2.2 Building collapse at Savar **2.3 SOS Note Hoax *3 Stores *4 References *5 External links Market positionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primark&action=edit&section=1 edit Primark sells fashionable clothes at the low cost end of the market. Primark's productshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primark&action=edit&section=2 edit All of the company's merchandise is made specifically for the company and as such Primark has its own brand names. Primark offer a diverse range of products, stocking everything from new born and kids clothing, to womenswear, menswear, home ware, accessories, footwear, beauty products and confectionery. Working practiceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primark&action=edit&section=3 edit In 2006, Primark joined the Ethical Trading Initiative, a collaborative organisation bringing together businesses, trades unionsand NGOs to work on labour rights issues in their supply chains.[10] ETI members commit to working towards the implementation of a code of conduct based on the International Labour Organisation's core conventions. In December 2008, the UK charity War on Want launched a new report, Fashion Victims II, that showed terms and conditions had not improved in Bangladeshi factories supplying Primark, two years after the charity first visited them.[11] On 9 January 2009, a supplier was forced by ETI to remove its branding from Primark stores and websites following a BBC/''The Observer'' investigation into the employment practices. The investigation alleged use of illegal immigrant labour which was paid less than the UK legal minimum wage.[12] On 16 June 2011 the BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) published its findings into a Panorama programme[13]'Primark: On the Rack', broadcast in June 2008. This programme was an undercover investigative documentary examining poor working conditions in Indian factories supplying Primark. Although Primark subsequently stopped doing business with the Indian supplier, the ESC concluded that footage in the programme was 'more likely than not' to have been fabricated.[14] The ESC directed the BBC to make an on-air apology and to ensure that the programme was not repeated or sold to other broadcasters. Primark created a specific website to deal with the issues around the programme.[15] in 2011 Primark achieved ‘Leader’ status in the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI). This puts Primark in the top 5% of all ETI members and this is a position that has been upheld to date. Building collapse at Savarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primark&action=edit&section=4 edit Main article: 2013 Savar building collapse On 24 April 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed in Savar, a sub-district near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. At least 1,127 people died and over 2,438 were injured.[16] The factory housed a number of separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops, and a bank[17] and manufactured apparel for brands including the Benetton Group, Joe Fresh,[18] The Children's Place, Primark, Monsoon, and DressBarn.[19][20] Primark paid $200 compensation and emergency aid to the victims of the collapse,[citation needed] a move which was welcomed by Oxfam,[21] and committed to review the structural integrity of buildings making its clothes.[22] Of the 29 brands identified as having sourced products from the Rana Plaza factories, only 9 attended meetings held in November 2013 to agree a proposal on compensation to the victims. Several companies refused to sign including Walmart, Carrefour, Bonmarché, Mango, Auchan and Kik. The agreement was signed by Primark, Loblaw, Bonmarche and El Corte Ingles.[23] SOS Note Hoaxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primark&action=edit&section=5 edit In June 2014, a customer from Ireland found an SOS note in the pocket of trousers she had bought from a Primark store in Belfast several years earlier.[24] The letter was written in Chinese and also contained a prison ID card. The letter alleged that the author was forced to work "like oxen" making fashion clothes for export for 15 hours per day, and the food they were given wouldn't be fit for dogs or pigs. A few days later, Primark claimed the label, and several others found in items in a store in Swansea, were a hoax.[25] Storeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Primark&action=edit&section=6 edit Primark expanded rapidly in the UK in the mid-2000s. In 2005 they bought the Littlewoods chain for £409m,[26] retaining 40 of the 119 stores and selling the rest. They opened in the Meadowhall Centre in mid-2007.[27] In May 2006, the first Primark store outside Ireland and the UK opened in Madrid, Spain. In December 2008, Primark opened its first stores in the Netherlands, followed in 2009 by its first stores in Portugal, Germany and Belgium. Primark opened its first store in Austria on 27 September 2012 in Innsbruck, this was followed by another store in Vienna which opened in October 2012. The largest Primark store in the world is located on Market Street, Manchester, England occupying 155,000 sq ft (14,400 m2) of retail space, spread over three floors. The Market Street store recently completed a full store refurbishment and extension to add an extra 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) of retail space to the ground and first floors.[28][1] Category:1969 introductions